Banks have been nickel and diming customers with extra service charges for 30 years. The government finally takes action to protect those at risk.

It costs $10 to $20 a month to keep your money in a chequing account at a major Canadian bank. And you can pay up to $30 a month for an account with no limit on the services you use.

Banking is a profitable business in Canada, delivering double-digit returns over a 10-year period to those who own bank shares directly or through their mutual funds and pension plans.

A federal government, however, has to look beyond shareholders’ interests. That is why finance minister Joe Oliver announced a voluntary agreement with the banks on no-cost accounts for vulnerable Canadians.

Some low-income people find banking so expensive they use services such as payday loan outlets to address their needs. Even those with bank accounts complain about being “nickel and dimed” with added fees.

A $2 monthly charge for sending statements in the mail is a huge irritant for many bank customers – and an outright hardship for older people living on fixed incomes who are not technologically inclined.

With the new guidelines to come into effect next January, major banks will offer no-cost accounts to youth, students, seniors qualifying for the Guaranteed Income Supplement and those living on a registered disability savings plan (RDSP).

The government is also telling banks not to introduce “pay-to-pay policies.” (Don’t you love the alliteration?) This means forcing vulnerable customers to pay for monthly credit card bills sent in the mail.

“While no major bank charged customers for mailed credit card statements, banks have committed to continue to provide these to customers at no charge,” says Canadian Bankers Association spokeswoman Maura Drew-Lytle, referring to the no-cost banking plans.

Big telecom companies started the pay-to-pay policy trend a few years ago. Several big banks adopted the measure, promising to help the environment and not just inflate their own bottom lines.

While there’s no agreement to stop the hated telecom fees, the CRTC did start hearings last fall on service providers’ practice of charging customers to receive paper bills.

“The government is following these proceedings with great interest,” according to the 2014 federal budget.

As a long-time journalist covering consumer issues, I started writing about banks’ fees and service charges more than 30 years ago.

In 1982, I did an article about the Consumers’ Association of Canada bringing its concerns to a Parliamentary committee looking into bank profits. I also quoted a bank president talking about a new user-pay philosophy.

In the past, he told the committee, banks financed their operations from the spread between interest paid on deposits and interest earned on loans. They provided many services to customers that were subsidized or free.

But with soaring interest rates in the inflationary early 1980s – when you could earn 15 per cent on a guaranteed investment certificate – banks wanted to make each service pay for itself.

They didn’t want their earnings to depend on a shrinking spread between the rates on deposits and loans.

That user-pay philosophy is still in force when you fast forward to 2014. Interest rates have been stuck at rock-bottom levels since a recession in 2008 and a jobless recovery.

Bank customers are now lucky to earn 2.5 per cent on a guaranteed deposit locked in for five years. Most earn nothing – or next to nothing – on their chequing and savings accounts.

You can’t blame banks for adding service charges to maintain their profits. But you can expect governments to protect consumers who are priced out of having a regular bank account.

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada offers an online tool to help compare bank accounts and find ones that meet your needs. It will monitor banks’ compliance with the new guidelines to take effect Jan. 15, 2015.

FCAC Commissioner Lucie Tedesco welcomed Oliver’s announcement that Canada’s largest banks would update their terms and conditions for low-cost accounts and expand the range of customers eligible for no-cost accounts.

It “demonstrates that basic banking services are keeping in step with the way Canadians are managing their transactions,” Tedesco said.

As for me, I’m thrilled to see the $2 monthly statement charges waived for some customers. There may be enough of a public protest that all customers will stop paying such fees one day.

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